Experts project an estimated 100,000 churches in the US will close or be repurposed over the next decade.
Many churches will be unable to escape this “tsunami” of closings — a grim trajectory one pastor described as, “Every year the pews are getting emptier and the collection plates getting lighter.”



I grew up Catholic but no longer practice and I don’t really miss church services. However, I attended a fairly charismatic church with a very involved congregation and that sense of community is very difficult to find outside of a church.
This is one of those things that churches have figured out. You need to have in real life community. For churches it’s part of their culture. A lot of secular groups haven’t put this together yet. Humanists are one group that have.
This why some people have trouble leaving religion. There’s no meatspace community for them. This is why we need people in these secular groups to start building community centers. It means starting out small, but there is a human need for meatspace interaction and social support.
Start a group that’s not a church!
Ya know, a group of actual good and nice people